Big Brother 28: Power Structure Takes Another Hit

Dee entered Week 7 in an excellent position. After watching Yash’s HOH reign blow up when Devens used the Diamond Power of Veto to save her and send Kamu to the block instead, Dee won Head of Household and immediately had another opportunity to shape the game. She nominated Drew, Lala and Taylor, putting multiple players outside the core of the Icons in danger.

Then Lala won the Power of Veto.

That forced Dee to make a decision, and she ultimately followed through with the plan that had been circulating in the house. At the Veto Ceremony, Lala used the Power of Veto on herself and Dee named Mallory as the replacement nominee.

On paper, that is a pretty aggressive move.

Mallory is part of the Mosh Pit, the large majority alliance that was formed just last week following Devens’ Diamond Power of Veto play. The alliance was supposed to give the Icons and their closest allies a numbers advantage moving forward. Instead, one of its own members is now on the block.

And that brings us to one of the strangest themes of Big Brother 28: These houseguests cannot seem to stop turning on their own alliances.

It has happened over and over again.

The Mosh Pit itself barely had time to get comfortable before its members started looking at one another as potential targets. Big Brother Network reported that Dee was already considering turning on the alliance almost immediately after it formed, with Mallory becoming a potential target depending on how the veto played out.

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That is hardly an isolated incident.

The season has been filled with players creating alliances for protection, only to immediately start figuring out how to get rid of the people sitting beside them. Players have repeatedly voted against supposed allies, shared information that was supposed to stay secret and formed new groups with people they had just been targeting.

The result is a house where alliances seem to have an expiration date measured in days rather than weeks. And yet, somehow, the Icons keep benefiting from it. That is the part that makes this week so fascinating. Or is it frustrating? It’s one of the F words.

The Mosh Pit was supposed to be a way for the majority to consolidate power. Instead, the group is already showing cracks, with Melody and Mallory reportedly feeling like they were brought into the alliance more for numbers than genuine influence.

Now Mallory is sitting on the block.  If she goes home, the Icons will have once again helped eliminate someone outside their core while maintaining their own safety. If she survives, she has every reason to question whether continuing to work with the Mosh Pit is worth it. Either way, the alliance takes another hit.

But the bigger problem for everyone else is that the Icons continue to be protected no matter how much the house turns on itself. Look at the last two weeks.

Yash won HOH and took a shot at the Icons by nominating Dee, Angela and Haley. That should have been the week when the power structure finally cracked. Instead, Devens’ Diamond Power of Veto saved Dee and put Kamu in her place. Kamu ultimately went home, and the Icons survived.

Then Dee won HOH. Now she has used that power to put another non-Icon player in danger.

It is almost comical at this point. Every time someone thinks they have finally found an opportunity to take control of the game, the target somehow shifts back toward somebody outside the core power structure.

That does not mean the Icons are playing a flawless game. In fact, their aggressive tactics are creating plenty of enemies. Their relationships with the other players are becoming increasingly complicated, and the constant shifting of alliances could eventually come back to bite them. But for now, it is working.

The biggest mistake the rest of the house may be making is assuming that because the alliances are changing, the power structure is changing with them.It isn’t. The names of the alliances may change. The people sitting in them may change. Players may turn on one another almost immediately after promising to work together.

But the Icons continue to find themselves on the right side of those changes. That is why Dee’s decision to nominate Mallory is so important. It is another example of a houseguest using power to weaken someone who was supposed to be part of the same majority rather than taking a direct shot at the players who have been running the game.

At some point, somebody is going to have to break that cycle. Otherwise, Big Brother 28 can continue forming new alliances, destroying old ones and blindsiding supposed allies every single week. The power structure may look completely different from one Monday to the next.

But if the same people keep being protected, does the structure really change at all? For now, the answer appears to be no.

The alliances are falling apart. The Icons are still standing. But one thing they seem to be forgetting about is jury management. Just ask this week’s veto host, Paul.

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